


Sweet Little Thing

by LimeyJellyBean



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Height difference, MoL artifacts, Shrinking, Wings, lingering magic, small!dean, small!gabriel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-15
Updated: 2018-09-12
Packaged: 2019-06-27 23:02:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15695127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LimeyJellyBean/pseuds/LimeyJellyBean
Summary: Something in the air leaves Gabriel with a small problem, and it seems to be catching.





	1. Chapter 1

Sam sighed wearily, already fed up of the archangel making ridiculous faces at him from across the table when he thought he wasn't looking. As if he wasn't distracting enough with Sam trying to research something for their latest case, the powered-down archangel was being more of a hindrance than a help, having barely touched his pile of books. He briefly looked up from the page he was on to shoot Gabriel the most appropriate bitch face, which just made him laugh.

“What's the matter, Samsquatch? Can't find what you're looking for?” The feigned innocence in his voice made Sam roll his eyes, another sigh escaping him. He put the book down, marking his place on the page before closing it and looking straight at Gabriel.

“You know full well what you're doing, and why I can't find it. Is there no-one else you could be annoying?” Gabriel just shrugged in response and picked up the closest book to him. He glanced at the title before deciding it wasn't anything interesting and threw it down elsewhere. Sam rolled his eyes again and picked up the book he had put down, flicking back to where he had left off and resumed trying to find the information he was looking for. The silence didn't last 30 seconds before Gabriel began to drum his fingers on the desk, slowly at first before building up speed so that his fingers were drumming a punishing rhythm against the grain of the wood. A small grin turned in to a full blown smile as Sam closed the book again with another reserved sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose with his other hand.

“Seriously. Is there no-one else you could go and annoy? Dean and Cas need this lore for their case, and Dean's gonna be seriously pissed if nothing turns up.” Sam turned on the puppy eyes, and Gabriel could have sworn they had been amped up to 11. “Please, Gabe. Either stop or take your weird somewhere else, just for a little bit?”

“Fine, fine. I'll take my weird somewhere else for a bit. But I'll have you know that my weird very much enjoys being here.” Gabriel pointed at the seat he had just vacated. “It may gravitate back.” Sam nodded in response as he picked up the same book for the third time. Gabriel was certain he heard Sam mutter something about 'Third time's the charm' and then the soft noise of a page turning as he trudged down the stairs out of the library. The corridor stretched out in front of him, a maze of rooms that the Winchesters had either not found or not explored branching off, and Gabriel took a left turn at random. The smell of dust got stronger the further down this corridor he went, ending abruptly with a door that looked exactly the same as every other in the bunker. There was no number, nothing special about it yet Gabriel found his interest piqued as he pushed it open, the dust smell intensifying. He crossed the threshold, eyeing the walls of cardboard that went from floor to ceiling, each box labelled meticulously and neatly stacked.

All except one.

At first glance, it was the same as all the others. Brown, boring, box-y. It was lay on the floor, the lid not completely secure, jarred from its journey that seemed like it had ended suddenly. Gabriel crept forwards, bending slightly to get a better look at the boring box that had somehow caught all of his attention and hyper-focused it in one place. A smell of something other than dust tickled his nostrils, something sweet that his sweet tooth latched on to and sent his saliva glands in to overdrive. He swallowed, both to swallow the extra saliva his body was producing and out of a sense of nervousness that had slowly begun to form in the back of his mind. He stood to full height, giving the box a small nudge with his foot that caused the lid to fall off and the smell to drift out in full force, assaulting his nostrils with the intensity of it. Logic escaped him then as he bent to get a better smell of whatever was in the box, enticing him, hope drawing in his chest as he wished whatever was in the box was edible. It was only as he knelt beside it that Gabriel noticed the third smell in the room, an ozone smell that snapped him out of the stupor he was in, reeling backwards and landing flat on his backside. He scrambled to his feet, trying to get away from the box as quickly as possible, away from the enticing smell. The door slammed shut behind him and Gabriel leaned back on it, trying to catch his breath that had somehow got away from him. He cleared his throat and regained his composure, shaking his head to try and clear it of the fog that seemed to have taken root there. He pushed off the door, determined to put as much distance between himself and the unusual smelling box as possible.

It was all going well until he reached the end of the corridor, the fog that hadn't cleared now began to swim at the edges of his vision and he leaned against the wall, blinking and rubbing his eyes to try and get rid of it. It subsided a little, enough so he reached the war room without further incident. It then began to trickle back, causing Gabriel to all but fall through the door and straight in to Sam's sight, who just raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“Told you Sam, weirdness. Gravitates back to where it likes to be.” Gabriel gave a lopsided grin before aiming for the chair he'd been sat in earlier, missing it and landing face-first on the floor. Sam snickered as Gabriel groaned and rolled on to his back, arm over his eyes.

“I think you missed that.”

“Shut up.” A small throbbing feeling had started up in his temples, which he tried to ignore as he pulled himself off the floor with the chair. It wobbled slightly in his grip, threatening to tip over but stayed firm as Gabriel got to his feet.

“You okay? You look a little out of it...” Sam started to get up from his chair, research now abandoned in favour of helping Gabriel. He nodded in reply, letting go of the chair with a flourish as if to show he was perfectly fine.

“All good Sammo! All-” The throbbing in Gabriel's head cut off the end of his sentence, edges of his vision blurring again with more intensity than the past two times. His knuckles went white on the back of the chair he had grabbed for support with the pain, consciousness starting to flicker out.

“... Raspberries.” Gabriel slumped to the floor, the last bits of consciousness leaving him and a very confused Sam in their wake.


	2. Chapter 2

Sam stared at the passed out archangel on the floor at a loss for words, mouth hanging slightly open. There wasn't much that could get the drop on Gabriel, so seeing him like this hit home for Sam quite how powered down he actually was. He took a cautious step forward, creeping towards him when a bright light exploded from where he was, sending Sam sprawling with its force. The smell of candy assaulted his nostrils, and he groaned as he sat up.

“Should be used to that by now...” Sam grumbled as he got to his feet, groaning again as he stretched. He crept again back to where Gabriel lay but stopped short at the sight that was literally at his feet. Gabriel was still passed out, but there were now six golden wings splayed out behind him, which only added to the odd sight before Sam. He'd always poked fun at Gabriel for being shorter than him, now he had more (less?) ammunition against the archangel, and a small snigger escaped him. The snigger seemed to reach Gabriel as he scrunched his eyes together, bringing a hand up to rub at them.

“Ow.” Gabriel sighed and opened his eyes, blinking a couple of times to get used to how bright the bunker seemed to have become. He placed both hands on the floor, pushing to get himself upright and hissing in pain when something pulled against his back. He looked at what he was pushing off of, and paled when gold met his vision. Gabriel whipped his head to look on his other side only to pale further when met with more gold. A lot more gold. He blinked, mouth open to ask a question, but shut it again when the words refused to form in his throat. Another small snigger from Sam brought Gabriel's attention to him, and he found himself looking a lot further up than he was used to just so he could see the younger Winchester's face.

“Raspberries.” Gabriel scrambled to his feet, almost gripped by a primal fear that wanted to put as much distance between himself and Sam as possible. He just about saw the worry flicker across Sam's face and stopped as he felt something wooden against his back. He turned and looked up, noticing the thing he'd backed in to was a chair, and the seat wasn't completely out of his reach. He jumped, gripping in to the grain of the wood as hard as he could so he could pull himself up, grabbing for as much purchase as he could. The thudding of Sam's steps coming to see what he was doing however made him lose his grip, and he fell back to the floor gracelessly. Sam laughed from somewhere above him as Gabriel groaned.

“Thank you very much, Samsquatch. Your stupid moose hooves threw my grip off.” Gabriel glared, and Sam hunched his shoulders, trying to make himself smaller.

“Sorry.” He knelt next to the chair, then realising he was still too high up for Gabriel to see, lay on the floor so they were more face to face. “Better?” Gabriel nodded, wings partially wrapped around himself defensively. Having his size diminished wasn't something he thought he could get used to, especially if it meant constantly being spooked by the even more giant Winchester. Gabriel laughed at himself, and was met with an inquisitive eyebrow raise from Sam.

“Never did think you could get much taller, Sammich. Guess I was wrong.” Sam smiled and shook his head at the statement.

“Never thought you could afford to lose any more height, yet here we are.” Sam's smile turned in to a shit eating grin as Gabriel's expression turned to one of mock offence.

“Right in the feels, Sam. Ouch.” Gabriel returned his own grin and laughed, wings unwrapping themselves from around him and settling in a more relaxed position. He folded his arms across his chest and leaned back against the leg of the chair, looking Sam straight in the eye.

“So tell me... How much did I lose?” Sam looked at him carefully, and Gabriel could see the lightbulb turn on in his brain.

“I'd guess that you're just short of a foot, maybe? Hang on, and I'll get something to actually measure you with.” He stood up quickly, rushing off to find something to measure Gabriel with, leaving him with an intense feeling of vertigo. He sat down, head in hands, and waited for the swimming to stop before standing again. He could just about hear Sam rifling through drawers to find something when it was overtaken by a loud clang from somewhere else in the bunker. Gabriel flinched, wings wrapping around him again and he moved round the leg of the chair so he was under the seat. An unsteady thumping rhythm shook him to his core before voices came in to his now diminished range of hearing.

“All I'm saying is we got it. That's a win, right?”

“Not if you insist on throwing yourself in harms way every time we go on a hunt, Dean.” He could almost hear the smirk on the elder Winchester's face, and the eye roll that Castiel replied with. The loud bangs of bags landing on the table above him brought Gabriel back to himself, and he moved further under the chair.

“Sammy! We're home!” More thumping signalled Sam's arrival back in the library, and Gabriel heard Dean laugh. “Been measuring again, Sam?” Sam looked down at the tape measure in his hand, then back at Dean with the most appropriate bitch face drawn.

“Dean, that's disgusting.” He glanced at the floor, noticing a lack of Gabriel and a small amount of panic began to set in. “Hey, have you seen Gabriel?” Sam bent down, trying to get a better view under the table and the chairs surrounding it.

“Dude, I know he's short but isn't that taking it a little far?”

“Shut up Dean.” Sam squatted now beside the table, one hand on its surface for balance as he continued his search for Gabriel.

“Sam...” He waved his hand to shush Castiel, and he could feel the look he had been given boring in to his back. Something gold caught his eye, but his attention was drawn away as Dean sniggered.

“Y'know I'm all for your weird, Sammy, but this time you're on your own. I need a beer.” Dean headed towards the kitchen, leaving Sam crouched beside the table and a confused Castiel. The glimmer of gold caught his attention again, and he lay on the floor to get a better look. Castiel moved round to try and see what Sam was doing, but was stopped as the younger Winchester put a hand up when he got close to the chair. He then motioned for Castiel to lie down next to him, pointing towards the far leg of the chair he was closest to. Gabriel drew his wings around him even further as Castiel's face came in to view, sliding down so he was sat against the leg of the chair.

“Sam... What happened whilst we were out?” Sam shrugged his shoulders, and Gabriel peered out of the cocoon he had made himself. “Are you alright, Gabriel?” He stood, nodding as he did so, and reluctantly began to walk out from under the chair, closer to both Sam and Castiel's faces. They moved back to give him more room and Gabriel smiled in appreciation.

“Thanks. This is... Well, it's... I don't know what it is.” He laughed nervously, four of the six wings still wrapped around him, the larger pair having settled behind him. Castiel gazed at the wings, reading them and reached out slowly before retracting his hand again, squinting in confusion.

“How are they here?” Gabriel released the wing he was fidgeting with to shrug, all of them settling behind his back. 

“Maybe it has something to do with being this size? Not enough room for your grace, maybe part of it has been forced out?” Sam offered, trying to think of the most logical reason for an archangel to have their wings on display. Especially when their true forms were lethal to most humans.

“Could be. I don't know though, this is all kinda new to me.” Sam sat up, Castiel following suit. Gabriel climbed on to the seat of the chair to remain as close to eye level as possible, before deciding the table was a better vantage point. He flinched as Sam and Castiel stood, looming over him before they sat again, this time on chairs to be more comfortable. Sam leaned forward, head in his arms, curiosity flickering across his face.

“Any idea how this happened?”

“Nope.”

“No smell of sulphur, anything like that?” Gabriel shook his head. “Hmm.” Castiel leaned forward, and Gabriel could feel the grace crackling under his skin.

“May I?” Gabriel nodded as Castiel reached out gently with his grace, trying to determine whether his predicament was the cause of angel meddling. He retracted it just and gently and shook his head, finding no evidence that angels had caused it.

“So no-one has any idea what happened to me?”

“Sorry Gabe.” He sighed and sat on the table, wings beginning to wrap around them again when the sound of glass breaking made him shoot up.

“What the hell?”


	3. Chapter 3

Dean hadn't felt the bottle slip out of his hand, the sound of it smashing and beer splashing on to his leg didn't register as the sight of the shrunken archangel had stolen all of his attention. He almost looked guilty about being shrunk, after the initial shock of the bottle had worn off. Dean crept closer to the table, kneeling as he got to the edge and holding himself up by it.

“So... What the hell?” Gabriel shrugged, wings drawn around himself again to try and calm his nerves at Dean's face looming closely to his whole body. “Witch?”

“We've already figured out that it's not anything to do with demons, or angels. Cas did something with his grace, but couldn't find anything there either.” Dean nodded in response to Sam's information, and Gabriel could almost see the gears turning in Dean's brain. He tore his eyes away and looked at Sam, the giant Winchester looking almost sympathetic to his plight.

“Okay.” Dean's voice brought his attention back to him. “So it's not demons or angels. Anybody found any hex bags?” Both Sam and Castiel shook their heads, and Dean sighed. “Any on you, Gabriel?”

“Uh...” He patted himself down, diving in to all his pockets to try and find it, almost willing it in to existence. His face fell when he found nothing, and shook his head at Dean's inquisitive stare. He sighed again, and stood up, both knees popping in the process. He turned and started to make his way out of the library, before stopping and turning back. He ran his hand through his hair, trying to think, trying to figure out what could affect an archangel but leave a seraph and a human untouched. Dean stopped pacing – another thing he hadn't realised he'd started – and turned back to Gabriel.

“You pissed anyone off recently?”

“Other than you when I threatened to mess with your Baby? Nope. Nada. Nobody.” A small grin worked its way on to his face at the memory, the daggers sent his way from Dean ignored. Gabriel stuffed his hands in his pockets and began to pace the width of the table, not getting too close to Sam and Castiel whose size now unnerved him slightly, trying to think about what could have caused the predicament he was in. Nothing sprang to mind, so he sat, slumped, wings spread in a way he knew Castiel could read as defeat. He tensed as something warm touched the top of the largest pair of wings, looking around to see Castiel trying to reassure him by smoothing down feathers that were out of place. Dean sniggered at the ridiculous sight in front of him, holding up his hands in defence as two pairs of eyes bore daggers in to him. Sam shook his head at his brother's ignorance, opting to drag him away with the promise of a fresh beer before he got himself in to more trouble. Dean began to protest, but decided against it as he remembered that his last one was ruined – and to clean up the mess it had made. Both brothers were silent until they reached the kitchen then sat, both with beers in hand, mulling over what could have happened.

“Sure there's no hex bags?” Sam shot the most appropriate bitch face.

“Positive. He just came back in to the library, passed out and boom! One huge bright light later and there's an archangel that's under a foot tall lying on the floor, wings on full display.”

“Huh.” Dean took a swig of his beer, letting his mind wander with possibilities and what-ifs. He sighed, dragging his hands down his face as tiredness began to creep in, the toll of the hunt weighing on his body.

“What are we gonna do about it?” He looked up from the rim of the bottle, concern written across Sam's face clear as day.

“I dunno man. All I know is that I'm beat from that hunt, I've not even had chance to shower yet. Give me an hour to freshen up, then we'll get those books you love so much hit, yeah?” Sam nodded in response, looking down at his own beer that he hadn't touched yet. “Sam, it'll be fine. Don't worry.” Sam sighed, then stood up, turning towards the library. Dean waved him on, knowing he'd make a start without him and give him the time he needed. The rest of the beer didn't last long, amber liquid smoothly working its way down the elder Winchester's throat and giving him the kick he needed to go and get freshened up. His knees popped again as he stood, groaning as he walked life back in to the aching limbs. He rubbed the back of his neck to try and relieve some of the ache that had settled there too, picking up the pace slightly to get to the shower quicker.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------

Dean had just passed one of the numerous corridors when the smell drifted towards him. It was sweet, and something about it smelt familiar that he couldn't quite put his finger on. He stopped, backing towards the entrance to the corridor where the smell became slightly stronger, and more familiar. Curiosity got the better of him as the smell got stronger, pulling him towards a door he was sure hadn't been there before he'd gone for his shower. He pushed it open cautiously, hunter senses on high alert as he scanned the room for anything untowards or out of place. Nothing screamed danger at him, so he let some of his defences drop, creeping around the room as he tried to find the source of the smell. His foot kicking a box he hadn't seen brought those defences back up, wishing he had his gun, although Sam would have laughed at him for shooting a box. The smell became stronger, and it was then he smelt the second part of it, the ozone smell that sent his brain in to high alert and had him scrambling out of the room as fast as his legs could carry him.

“Sam!” Dean stumbled as he entered the library, causing Sam and Gabriel to jump, the archangel trying to cower behind his wings. Castiel squinted at Dean's odd behaviour, otherwise unfazed and turned back to Gabriel to try and coax him out of the cocoon he had made again.

“What?” Dean was bent over, trying to catch his breath, wondering when it had got away from him.

“Room... Weird smell... Not right...” He swayed where he was stood, and Sam stood to help him, moving him in the direction of a chair. “Don't feel... Peachy...” Then he was a dead weight, slipping out of Sam's grip and landing on the floor gracelessly. Seconds later, a bright light escaped the hunter's body, causing Sam, Gabriel and Castiel to cover their eyes, to be gone moments later. Sam looked wide eyed at where his brother was lay, mentally cursing whoever or whatever had decided it was going to mess with him today.

“Dammit.”


End file.
